First coronavirus case on small Pacific island traced to US

The small island nation of Vanuatu has reported its first case of coronavirus with a man returning from the U.S. testing positive.

The asymptomatic 23-year-old man is currently in a quarantine facility after returning to the island last week from a “higher-risk” portion of the U.S. earlier this month, USA Today reports. 

“The person had been identified during pre-travel registration as traveling from a higher-risk location, therefore was seated separately at the back of the plane and was screened and transported separately from other arriving passengers,” the island’s health ministry said in a statement.

“Personal protection measures were applied and maintained during the flight, throughout the arrival process, during transport to and during registration at the quarantine facility,” it added.

The ministry added that the man abided by all appropriate measures during travel and quarantine and this single case is not considered an outbreak.

Vanuatu, which has a population just under 300,000 and is slightly larger than the state of Connecticut, is located in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia.

According to the World Health Organization, there have been over 50 million COVID-19 cases and more than 1.2 million related deaths so far. World health experts and pharmaceutical companies have signaled, however, that a COVID-19 vaccine could be on the horizon. 

Pfizer recently announced that their vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective at preventing the coronavirus. 

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, said he trusted Pfizer and would take the vaccine if the Food and Drug Administration approves it.